Credit Direct, the buyer lending subsidiary of FCMB Group, a Nigerian monetary companies group, is increasing past conventional lending into embedded finance because it seeks to make credit score and different monetary companies extra accessible to people and companies.
Victoria Arinze, product advertising lead at Credit Direct, mentioned at Moonshot by TechCabal in Lagos that Credit Direct wants to use partnerships with companies and retailers to bring credit score closer to these transactions.
Embedded finance entails integrating monetary companies into platforms the place prospects already make funds or conduct different transactions, permitting them to entry companies resembling loans with out having to strategy a monetary establishment individually.
The continent’s 50 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face a funding hole estimated at more than $330 billion. Credit Direct goals to shut this by extending its lending experience and integrating financing into the platforms that companies and folks use.
“We are primarily a credit organisation, and that has not changed and will never change. Credit is still the core of what we do,” Arinze mentioned “What we’ve realised, however, is that credit really is not the end of how a person’s finances is built. When you give them credit, they then need to live their life, and living their life means being able to pay for things when they want to or when they have to.”
Founded in 2007, Credit Direct has spent almost 20 years lending to Nigerians, together with prospects in markets conventional lenders have usually been reluctant to serve. Its 2025 Nigeria Credit Landscape Report, which attracts on knowledge from greater than 300,000 debtors, discovered that the typical mortgage quantity on its platform elevated by 23.5% to ₦449,178 ($326.75) in 2025, with lease, medical payments, and college charges being the three main causes prospects borrowed.
Credit Direct can be increasing into SME financing by means of CreditDirect Business, one in every of its newer merchandise. The product presents general-purpose loans, invoice-backed financing, and mortgage buy order (LPO) contract financing, with loans of up to ₦50 million ($37,130) out there to eligible companies. Loan quantities rely upon elements together with money movement, current obligations, and the character of the enterprise. Arinze mentioned it’s nonetheless comparatively new and that the corporate is utilizing buyer suggestions and engagement to decide how its merchandise ought to evolve.
“We’re not really looking to outbank the banks or out-fintech the fintechs. It’s really the people at the end of the day, and getting to that strength to partner with the persons that we have to when we need to,” she mentioned.
Arinze mentioned the corporate is now exploring enlargement into different West African markets, with discussions at the moment ongoing. It didn’t disclose particular international locations or timelines.
